Of Spiders and Phobias
by GranuailesDance1057
Summary: First Sanctuary piece. Just a short one-shot including attempted humor, the Sanctuary team, and a venomous abnormal tarantula named Little Guy.


Disclaimer: I don't own Sanctuary, its characters, abnormals, or even Big Guy! I don't even own the tarantula that was used in this one-shot. :( But now I really want one!

A/N: Hey! Hey! Hey! First ever Sanctuary fic! I'm extremely proud of this one. Because to be honest, I thought my first contribution to this (amazing) fandom would be an angsty Helen/John songfic. But, there are too many of those. But, never mind. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Helen/John shipper!) So you could say I was fairly surprised when I managed to write this attempt of a humorous one-shot all in a one-hour sitting. _And_ it was about Henry. Didn't see that one coming. Now, this author's note is getting too long, so I'll let you carry on!

* * *

"…And so I was decompressing the thing when-" Henry's explanation about his latest mission, involving a hot air balloon, a pair of nubbins, and a screwdriver, was suddenly cut short. His jaw dropped as his eyes fixated on a single spot on the opposite wall.

"Uh…Henry?" Will asked, perplexed, as Kate waved her hand in front of Henry's face. Slowly, the two followed his line of vision to settle on something black, red, fuzzy, and with eight legs. It languidly crawled down the wall of the lab and was coming quite close to the ground.

The resident geek was frozen in his place, and he stuttered out the word "tarantula" several times before taking a few steps backwards as the arachnid came closer to the floor.

Kate frowned, "That little guy scares _you_?" She pointed at the tarantula and looked at Henry. "Hank, he's completely harmless."

"Th-th-that thing is _huge_," Henry argued weakly, now looking a little pale.

It was Will's turn to frown. "Dude, you've been dealing with monsters, most of them a helluva lot scarier than that thing, for years now, and you're afraid of a little _spider_?"

Kate was now trying to pry the seemingly shy tarantula, as if it were a scared puppy, into her welcoming hands. Henry gulped.

"Actually, its proper name is _Megaphobema mesomelas_, also know as the Costa Rican redleg," Helen announced, walking into the room. In her hands was a small glass case, which she apparently had been intending to use to contain the tarantula.

"I'm glad you three found it," she continued, putting the case down onto the table next to her, and crouched down beside Kate.

Helen easily scooped the little critter into her hands, and allowed Kate to look at it, "This particular one is an offshoot of its original species."

"So, it's an abnormal spider," Will said, warily watching the two women and the tarantula. Kate was intently poking one of its hairy legs. Henry was still slowly backing away in the opposite direction.

Helen nodded, "When extremely alarmed, this redleg secretes a highly lethal venom from its fangs that can kill prey almost instantly. Fascinating little thing," she said with a grin.

Catching the look of unadulterated fear in Henry's eyes, Helen added quickly, "They're completely harmless to humans, Henry, it's all right. Just as long as you don't frighten it."

Stepping closer to him, Helen extended her arms out to Henry in attempt to give him a better view of the spider. Will moved to stand next to Kate and they both watched with slight amusement as the werewolf shook his head urgently.

"D-doc, nah, it's fine." His back was now against the wall, body rigid. Helen shrugged, backed off, and deposited the tarantula into the safety of the glass case.

Kate smiled, "Awwww, but Hank," she drawled out his name. "Little guy's kinda cute!"

Will, now tapping the side of the glass with interest, nodded in agreement. "Could make a nice pet."

Henry snapped his head to the other man, "C'mon, not you, too, Will! I-I-I mean, _look_ at that thing! All hairy and ugly and just plain…" he shuddered dramatically.

Shrugging, Will said, "Not saying that I blame you. Arachnophobia is among the largest phobias in the world…"

"But, he's still cute!" Kate defended.

"Okay, could we change the subject. _Please_?" Henry begged, looking at Helen specifically.

She nodded, "If it helps, I'll put it in a more secure container."

"Can you stop referring to him as an _it_?" Kate interjected.

And added, "His name's Little Guy." She beamed, thinking that her play on Bigfoot's nickname would make the fuzzy spider seem more amiable to Henry. Kate thought wrong.

Helen chuckled as she walked out of the lab with the tarantula, "Whatever you decide to call him, he'll be safely stored away, I assure you." And with that she was gone.

Henry breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

_A few hours later…_

Exhausted from the events of his day, Henry sluggishly entered his bedroom, eager to do nothing but clock in a good eight-hour nap. He flicked on his lamp and pulled off his shirt, and must have jumped a good two feet in the air when his eyes laid upon the one creature he had dreaded seeing again that day.

Innocently resting on his pillow was the tarantula "Little Guy", still within the containment of the glass case. But that didn't make any difference to Henry. Something else, however, caught his eye. Cautiously, he picked up a small folded note that was taped to the case and perused its contents.

_The boss said I could keep Little Guy, but I didn't know what to feed him. I'm sure you know a thing or two about abnormal Costa Rican spiders. _

_Kate_

Henry could practically hear the sarcasm dripping from the hastily scrawled letter, and he tossed the note onto his nightstand. With a sigh that confirmed there was no way that Little Guy could crawl out of his case, Henry picked him up, settled onto his bed, and after a minute or two of examining the tarantula, decided to go in search of some gut-loaded crickets and worms.

* * *

_Still not quite settled on the ending, but I'm letting it slide since this is my first Sanctuary fic. I crave feedback. Please let me know how this newbie did!_


End file.
